DA: E. Meadow man sentenced to 10 years in prison after throwing bricks on Meadowbrook Parkway

Posted
Monday, August 21, 2017 5:49 pm

Andrew Denton

Courtesy NCDA

By Stephany Reyes

An East Meadow man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday, after a cinderblock he launched from an overpass on the Meadowbrook Parkway in December 2015 struck a car below, injuring a woman.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas, Andrew Denton, 19, was convicted of assault in the first degree and two counts of reckless endangerment, among other charges, on May 17. The jury deliberated on the charges for almost 2 days after a May 1 trial.

According to police records, Denton and a friend, Jacob Palant, 20, of Syosset, threw paving bricks and cinderblocks on two different occasions on Dec. 26, 2015 from the Uniondale Meadowbrook Parkway overpass. The curved inward fence was no obstacle for the pair, as Singas said they “used extraordinary efforts to thwart these protections.”

The men launched bricks during the first incident that afternoon, but when they did not hit any cars, reports said, the pair returned later that night. At 8 p.m., the first target — a BMW traveling northbound — was hit as a cinderblock smashed through the windshield and snapped off the rear-view mirror. Although the cinderblock missed the 21-year-old driver’s head, his shoulder was wounded, causing shoulder pain from the accident. The shattered glass left permanent damage to his 22-year-old girlfriend, Singas said. The woman now has a permanent scar on her cornea, suffers from blurry vision in that eye, and cannot drive at night.

Later in the night, another brick struck the roof and side of a Jeep driven by a 23-year-old woman. Although it missed the windshield, damages to the Jeep accumulated to $5,000.

After a lengthy investigation, both men were arrested on Jan. 1, 2016. Palant is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 14 and could face up to 25 years in prison on the top count of first-degree assault. Calls placed to Edward and Kristin Galison, Esqs. were not immediately returned at press time.